celebrate good times

14-16 september

this last weekend was largely an effort to celebrate our dear friend's birthday. 

i don't have class on friday so i spent the day going to get groceries and pick up a cute new dress to celebrate! {someone else's birthday is a good enough reason for me to get new clothes right?} 

at about 7 in the evening we all met up at the birthday girls apartment to enjoy the last of the no bake cake truffles and each others company.

i seriously enjoy spending time with these people. they all have their own fun personality and it makes for a great time!

all those fears about making friends - totally put at ease!

we all hung out until about 11:30 when we made our way to the international pub to keep rockin.
it was a rather interesting time there. losing people and finding them again in the large crowd that was there. it was certainly a packed building and we had a fun time. by about 1 or 2 we were feeling all danced out and we walked one of our friends home. my walking buddy and i thought we would check out one of the other places that was busy that night. turned out it was a dj contest and it was all guys that were there. it wasn't really our type of music so we headed home for the night. overall the night was a ton of fun and i look forward to more evenings with all these crazy people!
*happy birthday* my dear! i hope you had a fun time and i am so glad that i have had the chance to meet you!

the next day was a pretty relaxed day. in one of my classes we had to write a group paper and give a presentation so i met with my group to polish off the paper and to start the presentation.
that evening a few of us met in Grote Markt to figure out a plan for what to do that evening. we had a guide book to Den Haag with us and after flipping through some of the pages we thought pancakes sounded really good. the pancake place wasn't open anymore but on a whim i had gotten pancake mix the week before. talk about convient. so we snagged some syrup and chocolate milk mix and headed back to my place.
there were tunes playing while we mixed up some warm chocolate milk {college student version of hot cocoa} and a batch of the yummiest pancakes i have ever tasted! we didn't have enough plates so we simply ate with our hands dipping the pancakes into the caramel syrup we had. *so delicious*
if only i could have pancakes every night :) 

lets get the party started!

27 august - 2 september

oh boy it's been a busy 2 weeks so let me update you on just the first week! 

monday was more time to figure out getting a phone, roaming the city, and meeting another great gal from the USAC program (check her out!) we found a great little place in Grote Market with delicious french onion soup and talked til late. 

the next day everything started! a large group of international students met up at the train station to go for a walk around Rotterdam. we couldn't take a train straight there so we had to take a couple of different trains and i met a new group of people every time we switched! we wandered around for a couple hours, grabbed some dinner and then hung out in this fun place named Bed. 

new friends! 

jackie chan slid down that white building for a movie!

it was really fun to meet so many new people from all over the world! 

wednesday morning was the start of orientation where we just met the people with the answers to any/all questions we may have while here. we also walked around the building and enjoyed lunch with some traditional dutch food such as stroopwaffels (my favorite from when i was little!), haring, cheese, and information on whats around campus. 

that afternoon i wandered around to the city centre again to pick up some food and just explore a little more. that night was a big party with a ton of international students. we had a blast and ended the night chilling at a friends apartment. 

people of similar nationalities tend to group together but we are a motley crew! there are a bunch of americans, a canadian, an estonian, a swed, and all sorts from other places. 

the next day was simply registering to say we are actually here and going to school then a walk around the city with our group of americans and canadians. Den Haag is pretty cool! we wandered through Parliament and beautiful old buildings. pretty chill day. 

friday was more listening to information we need for our time here. just about the programs and what the school is all about. all very interesting and pretty simple. 

that evening i met up with a couple of friends to make some dinner 

and then we all headed out to enjoy the night with a big group! the theme of the night was orange and we tried to find anything orange we could! {orange is the color of the national soccer team} 

we had a total blast! one of the most fun nights just chillin, talking and then livin it up! 

saturday i got some more errands done and relaxed before meeting up with friends for Museum Naght! 

this was a fun night where the museums in Den Haag stayed open til about 2 am and you could go visit as many as you like for just 15 euro for the whole night! a few of us visited the Humanity House which was focused on the refugees that had to flee their own country and ended up here. from there we ended up in a fashion/mod art before grabbing poffertjes. we went to a more traditional museum and saw some art from Isaac Israels who i have wanted to check out. there were many old paintings and a whole room of what Den Haag used to look like. our last stop was to see a show that was being put on. talk about confusing! maybe i just didn't get it but that was an odd show. after that we thought about going to the after party that the event was hosting but ended the night chilling at a friends apartment together just talking about everything and laughing. 

all the people i've met are great and it's been a blast to get to know them! i'm so blessed to be here and surrounded by so many great people!